I, as well, would like information on how to begin a lawsuit against this company. My contract with tme was cancelled June 2007 and in October 2007 they sold copies of my novel. How many have been sold as of June, I am unaware and am desperately trying to find this answer. Someone please help me.

Traditional Publisher is basically crap. They are not traditional in any way. This is deceptive and harms those of us who want to do literature. It is also a guilt by association. They never tell you that nobody will review you book. PA is great for grandmothers who want to leave a memoirs for their children but for a first-time serious literary author it can be very harmful. DECEPTION, and the guy posting . . . “To bad about your problems” he can say whatever he wants and not address deception but PA is all about deception. It is a vanity press regardless of what the deceptive appearance is. I am rign now, asking for my contract to be null and void. I will make it my business to expose them and they should avoid literary works. For those of you reading this that may not be an author or one writing a memoirs, you may not understand how it is like selling a child into slavery but I am sunk by them and they have spread their sick reputation onto my novel and I am sick to death of their propaganda and lies.

On top of everything else: a friend of mine told me that PublishAmerica is selling “used” copies of my book online for up to $70.00 a copy and “signed” copies also. The only copies I ever signed were for family and personal friends. Yet an acquaintance who purchased a “signed” copy did indeed get one. I never signed that book. Looking into the book’s history, as I mentioned before they misrepresented the release date and did not pay me royalties for the 1st 2 months when the book was out – typically when many are sold because people are anticipating it. But besides that, also in November (when the book was new) they wre already selling “used” copies on Amazon – when there weren’t any. I am absolutely disgusted by this company and the lawmakers who make this criminal behavior possible. And then they have the gall to taunt their authors by offering to “frame” our miniscule royalty checks for a fee of $20.
I am also interested in kicking some ass, here!

I am a first time author through PA and I am also an actor on Youtube. My book was released in September of 2008 and I told all my fans about it. As of December 20th 2008 I had signed about 7 copies of my book and was present when at least 3 people order it from Barnes N Noble.com, not to mention the many Youtube video book reviews people sent me showing they had my book. As I just recieved my first royalty check I find myself in the same situation. My royalty check was for $11.18 and says that although my book at retail price is selling for 24.95, I have only sold 8 books and all happened to be at the sale price of 17.95…a price that only PA’s website offers. And to top it all off they only paid out at 8% per book. I have gotten my sales reports for the timeline they are saying it was for from Banres N Noble and Target.com and I have all of my fans who have their receipts sending them to me showing date of purchase. Bottom line here people is that this type of company thrives on finding desperate people, people who don’t understand what they are getting into and then they use their contracts to bind them into a losing battle. They don’t feel that we are the types of people who can afford lawyers, but given the fact I reach over 8,500 people worldwide on a daily basis and that I have the power of the internet on my hand, you can bet that I will be broadcasting to the world what kind of company this really is and that my lawyers will have all documentation to actually win a case against them. Like one of the others said, it is the principle! I never expected to make millions off of my novel but I do (and should) expect to get my rightful share of the royalties promised to me in my contract and so should all of you! On a final note I am also having my lawyers investigate another thing that maybe you should be aware of. A month after I was published, PA also published another Justin Levesque. Now I know I am not the only one out there but given the number of people I reach and how many say they bought my book when first announced, I find it odd that another person with such an unusual name would have gone to their company with a finished book and got it published right after a majority of my sales went through. Keep an eye out for this as they may be using your name to maximize their own profits. Feel free to contact me on youtube with any questions. http://www.youtube.com/ohandthisjustin

Please add my name to the class action suit.
Thank GOD!!!!!!!!!
1jesuslove@att.net

I have just signed a contract with Publish America and then I found out. I’m so upset and am looking for others to come together in order to bring against a lawsuit. I’m going into law as a Paralegal and I don’t want PA to con more new authors into something that seems to be misleading. If anyone’s out their and is interested, please.

I am currently publishing my fourth book through Publish America. I have always questioned whether or not I have been receiving the correct royalties from the sales of my first three books. Now they are giving me a hard time with the cover for my fourth book and I will not allow them to play games with it. If they publish it the way it is I am planning a lawsuit against them for breach of contract. I am a first year law student and have talked to my instructors regarding this also. They tell me we have an excellent case against them. If you have had a problem with Publish America and are interested in joining in a class action suit against them, please contact me through my email address at TrailsEndNH@aol.com.

Publish America is still printing my book way after I got out of that stupid contract. I monitor the internet for copies being offered and Amazon Uk just recently listed more of my book for sale. I don’t understand how Publish America can sell my work still……….and not pay me one penny ? Hound them every time you have the time, keep on Publish America , call them , email them and spread the word about them. They pay only 84 cents to the author per copy sold, and they are so poor that they can not even pay that. Thank the GODDESS I have a new Publisher, with new sub titles and new covers and my books will be treated with respect instead of the babies at Publish America. I have filed complaints every where and if everyone emails Bill O’Reily from Fox news maybe he will put them out of business. All they had to do is pay us for copies sold and stop lieing and cheating the IRS AND US.

DONT BUY ANYTHING FROM PUBLISH AMERICA AND DONT SIGN YOUR LIFE AWAY WITH THEIR CONTRACTS.
MY WORK SOLD AND I WAS VERY POORLY TOSSED A SIDE AS THEY GOT MONEY OFF MY WORK………………..PUBLISH AMERICA IS A JOKE !! They can take a dream and ruin it ………….They told me that they havE NO WAY of keeping track of sales—————so how come Nielson Ratings Can ?

Hi
i’m writting you because i published a book with
Publishamerica, and after reading your blog at Google, i’m just learning that i’m not the only one that has been scam. I’m from Venezuela, and this is my first book, so i was very excited to know that it was going to be published. After publishing my book with Publishamerica, i suffered a nervous breakdown, i got very sick, so i could not market my book, i thought that they was going to do that for me, anyway i did not complain, when they send me six dollars as my royalties, i blame myself, for not being active in the marketing, and at the time, my only concern was my health. time started to pass, and thank God i started to feel better, so i decided to search more about my book, i went to bookfinder.com and realized that my book was in all kind of international websites all over the world, for an unbelievable, expensive price. i ask them to explain that, and they said that they have no control over their buyers, and that they can not tell me who they selling my book to. Anyway, i did not take any legal action, because again, i was still concern about my health, and i’m not into the sueing stuff, i really believe in comunication, so i wrote them and ask them to stop my contract, they send me some sort of explanation, that at the end i just say to my self, let me start marketing my book on my own, thank God i feeling better than ever, and with more energy” so i started the marketing process for my book, because i know that my book will sell itself. so i write them asking them for help, they never reply, so i start to look for information on my own, until i decided to set up my website, and sell my book on my website, then when calling Publishamerica customer service, the gentleman who answer me was so rude, and disrecpectfull, i did not know that they was to treat their author with so much disrespect, or if this was an isolated case, because they know that i’m latino, but the treatment was horrible, they kill my enthusiasm right away, the gentleman was yelling at me, and he almost hang up the phone when i ask him for more information, this was so bad, that i’m deciding to take some legal matter for discrimination, they never help me sell my book, they never provide me with any information, they selling me my own book for a price that is unreasonable, and now they treating me like if i’m bothering them, and they still don’t want to stop the contract, i just writting you for some legal advice, i’m not interested in any money from them, i just want them to stop the contract, because in no place of the contract said that i was going to be treated with discriminaltion and disrespect. I really will appreciate any advice.
Thank you for your help.

Granted there are books published by PA which should never see the light of day. But there are many that are viable works. My book was published in 2005. A few months laterI complained about PA’s practices and they “released” me from my contract (via letter) and said the book would no longer be available. I own the copyright. I recently discovered that my book (Beyond The Bridge – The Compelling Story Of A Reunion) is for sale on several internet sights. I’m glad it’s still out there, but I’ve received no royalty checks. I’m sure you’ve heard this story many times over. So, how can we collectively rectify this situation?

I am yet another burned Publish America author. They advertised themselves as a “Traditional Royalty-paying publisher” that sold books in “real brick and mortar book stores.”

Not having any knowledge or experience to believe otherwise, I signed my first book contract with them on 10-9-2002. It was a memoir, Lost in Foreign Passions, and I’d been unable to find an agent for it because of its then politically sensitive nature. It was exciting and encouraging to have found a”real” publisher for it despite that.

But Publish America was not a “real” publisher. They lied. They were only print on demand and their books were unreturnable so “real brick and mortar book stores” were reluctant to carry them. Worse, they overpriced the book, expected me to do all of my own marketing (even though the contract itself indicated that the marketing was their job), and both under reported and sometimes failed to report or pay royalties.

Publish America has been guilty of breaching its every contract to its authors (not something I knew when I signed up due to false advertising) and makes them for 7 years, refusing to let most authors out. I was lucky to get out after 5 years and have my rights returned to me.

However, they are still publishing and selling my book under the name I wrote it under, under my present legal name, under past legal names (all of which endanger me as an apostate from Islam) and also under the name of some guy named Jame Becher (see: http://www.ecampus.com/bk_detail.asp?isbn=9781592862665) though the name I wrote it under, Debra Kamza, is still on the cover. This is without right or permission. Copyright infringement.

I’ve asked them to stop, but Publish America says Lightingsource (their printer) did and Lighteningsource says Publish America did it, but it doesn’t stop. I get none of the royalties either and I figure they owe me quite a lot.

Meanwhile, the my association with them and the fact that that they’re still publishing my book without my permission defames me to other would be publishers of Lost in Foreign Passions and other writings I’m working on.

See the scivvy on Publish America at http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/pebpublisham.htm.

I know that PA has settled with individual authors who’ve taken action against them and they are still in business playing the same old tricks on new authors. Last I heard, there were over 1400 victims… like you, like me. So the only way to really get them to stop is to tackle them with a class action suit, or sic the FBI or AG or both on them and the only way to do any of those is to approach it as a group, a whole list of us and our common complaints.

I hope you’ll forgive my saying so, but I think it would be far more effective than simply staging a book burning. Besides, I couldn’t do that. Books are too precious to me. I’d much rather burn Publish America itself.

Please email me ampbreia@live.com if you’d like to participate in this endeavor.

By the way, it’s all very well to inform other would-be authors on the damages inherrent in going with Publish America by complaining about it all over the internet. It helps. It does. But if you’d like to contribute to a class action suit, AG complaint, or FBI investigation against them – all of which are eminently possible – you will have to provide contact information along with your complaints.

Don’t worry about being harrassed by Publish America as a result. Anything they say or do can be used against them in a court of law. Think about that.

We need to be organized if we are to make a collective presentation to legal representatives or authorities. Other than an attorney – which may not be a profitable enough venture for and cost us too much besides – I was thinking Adjutant General, FBI, a class action lawsuit, or all three.

If you wish to participate in such, I have compiled a list of known complaints about Publish America. Please answer yes or no and provide any requested details as they apply to you and add to the list anything not covered that you’ve also experienced:

1. Are there any iscrepancies between site advertisements & actual contract?

2. Are there any breaches of contract? Briefly describe them.

3. Did your book make it to “brick & mortar bookstores?” as implied by the website?

4. Was shoddy editing accepted?

5. Was the workmanship shoddy (cover, print job, binding)?

6. Customer / author services unsatisfactory (questions not answered, problems unresolved, snippy attitude of representatives/contacts)?

7. Book overpriced?

8. Book under marketed?

9. Do you have reason to suspect royalties under reported?

10. Do you have reason to suspect royalties not reported?

11. Are sales statistics on your book accessible to you?

12. Has your book been advertised for sale under some other name than what you wrote it under? What Name(s)? Provide links & take screenshots to keep in your records in case requested.

13. Were you ever asked to buy your own book (either by suggestion or actual pressure)?

14. We you ever asked to give publisher a list of people to announce / offer your book to?

15. Did you have any difficulty getting out of the contract when you wanted out?

16. Did you find your book continuing to be sold by PA or 3rd parties AFTER the contract ended & your rights were returned to you? Provide links.

17. Did you ever find the publishing credit attributed to any other than Publish America either before or after the contract end & without your specifically given approval? What publisher was it credited to? Take screen shots & provide links.

Please also provide your name, contact information, book name, & pen name written under if different from your legal name or the one you wish to be known at present.

The computation of my royalty payment is based on a price that is less than the book price. I have asked for an explanation several times and have received no response. Has anyone had a similar experience?

I’m unhappy with how Publish America decided to rob me of my royalties. I’m planning on investigating them even further than what I already have. That Ingrams number I have tried and it is no longer in service. If anyone is having an issue with this company please email me so I can have a petition going along with the complaints that follow. I’m looking into an attorney to represent me. The more involved the better. Thanks for your time reading this. I hope I can be of help.

I have been trying to get out of my contract signed September 15, 2000 with AmErica House. Nowhere is Publish America listed, yet Publish America will not release me from my contract which gives AmErica House lifetime rights to my book and 50% of the profits. From the almost non-existent royalties I have received over these 9 years my book is definitely unsaleable by industry standards. If there is a class law suite out there, let me know so that I can determine if it will be cheaper than my own lawyer. Since they still want my book so desparately, they must have made good money on it. I should have at least had 50% of their profits.

Hello Mourner, Debra and Hopeful,

I sent mail/email to the office of the Attorney General in Maryland.

Here was the response for all to see – Read and weep:

We have reviewed the facts stated in your complaint and it has been placed in our files as a matter of public record.

The Consumer Protection Division generally handles complaints arising out of transactions between a consumer and a business. We sympathize with you in this situation but because your complaint involves a transaction between two business firms, we are unable to take further action.

It is our understanding however, that the BBB attempts to assist in circumstances such as this…, blah, blah, blah…, (get a private attorney and do it yourself – my abbreviation).

So.

Back to square one.

Not only is PublishAmerica getting away with false advertising, but any complaints are going into the “File” of death.

If anyone has had any success stories, could you PLEASE post them for the rest of us that need some hope of regaining some measure of dignity from these thieves?

…

Like so many others, I fell for pa’s line before checking them out. I did get out of my contracy by harassing them and refusing to promote my book, White Lightning & The Angel’. My royalty ckeck, $11.25 I still have as a reminder to look before I leap. I had a lot of trouble with their mistakes, which they always laid at my door, and they are still selling my book. I wish a hacker could get into their records and find out how many books they have really sold. A lawyer would love it!
If anyone gets a lawsuit going, count me in.
J.M.S.

Yes I would love to be part of a class action lawsuit against Publish America I too am a victim of this on holy book publisher. Can you or someone email me back as to tell me how to get involved with this class action suit? I wrote one book with them and haven’t received one dime!!!!

I’ve been trying for over six months to get royalty statements from them and they have yet to send one. After three requests to get out of my contract they offered to let me out of it if I’d purchase 50 of my books at 40% off…LMAO…yeah, like I’m really going to do that. So I’m with anyone else who wants to take them in a class action lawsuit. My email address in the previous post.

I was contacted by the consumer affairs department and told that it is a business to business complaint and they have no jurisdiction. What if we all got together and contacted an attorney who could compose a letter to them .. Publish America and several Authors signed it.?

My is an inspirational true story. I know I have the copyright, even thought they have the publishing right. I have decided they would not kill my story with all their lies and tricks and fraud. I am going to make changes in my book, change the title and self publish it. I don’t care what happens when they find out. I am willing to go to court with them. I have asked them to release me from their contract.

I have a question for all you folks out there. When I approached PA for publications and gave them the title of my work and later they sent me their contract, they used the titled I had furnished them to draw up the contract. That was what I signed. Later, a friend suggested a more appropriate name for the book, I emailed them and asked for a change of title. After a day, they emailed me to say they have agreed and have changed the name of the book accordingly. Now, listen to this. They did not send me a new contract to sign on the new title I had furnished them with or ask me to initial the change of the title. They used the new title to publish the mess they now call my book, although I did furnish them a manuscript for the old title. Technically, I think I have no binding contract with PA with what they have published because I didn’t sign a contract with them for this new title. What is your take on this as I want to now republish my work with a better title and save myself from PA’s greed. Thanks for all your help.

If you have an idea of how we can form a group and a web site or something like that. Lets do it.

Publish America also took me, they published my book after endless back and forth text and formatting errors they made on my manuscript, and they never did a grammar or spell check. Later as I received my first order I was shocked to see that they had not look at it and done any spelling or grammar checks. I tried to have them fix the errors, but they did not, I took them to the Better Business Bureau but BBB did very little, just send e-mails back and forth between them and me. Now I am think of thinking them to court, since I found and interview Publish America Executive Officer Ms Miranda Prather gave to Steven Zeitchik from Publishers Weekly, her words where that they DO checks for (and I quote) “for grammar and spelling.” So I think I have ammunition to take them to court on that one, since a statement from an executive officer of a company makes them liable I think in the eyes of the law. Also they charged my $100 to have my cover design in my book a fee, that is nowhere in the contract, so I think I can take them to court on breach of contract on that one too.

What say you guys?

I am as well a victim to publish America and their scams. I signed a contract with them 8/19/08 and was more then excited. For months they emailed me over and over again about my “final draft” although I tried as best as I could to edit my novel “scarred impressions”; being the writer I still overlooked many errors. I battled with them for months on whether or not I should change the names of my characters as to my novel is based on my life. In the end, I grew more and more angry and finally I stopped e-mailing them back. I received an e-mail four months later asking me if I had the final draft and at this point I just sent it to them. For months after I heard nothing; nothing was e-mailed to me regarding my novel and I heard nothing about the production until one day the text department e-mailed me. They asked me to review the manuscript and let them know if there are any errors that needed to be changed. Of course, as everyone can imagine, there was an error every other word. Stupid errors like “my” instead of “me” or “past” instead of “passed”; the list went on and so I fixed the errors and e-mailed the manuscript back. They returned with an e-mail stating it was too late to re-enter a new manuscript but I could write a detailed list (which was bogus) telling them what page and what line the error was on and what I wanted to change it to. For two days I re-read the manuscript until I have over 500 errors. I typed the list up and re-emailed it to them only to find out they couldn’t do anything about it unless I wanted to pay one hundred dollars. Needless to say, I told them I refused to pay for them to do the job they were hired to do in the first place. After the novel was “released” (as they put it of course), my family and friends all bought a copy within a few days after the release. The book was released on October 09 and I received an e-mail telling me I would receive my “two author copies” within a few days. It is now February and I have not seen one single copy. Since then I sent an email out in December and January asking about these phantom “author copies” and also notify them I DID not wish to renew my contract after seven years. The only statement I have heard back is them stating my books are in the mail. I am so ashamed for this published book, I am embarrassed to even mention the book has come out. Please count me in! I have kept all my e-mails and contract where I believe they have breached which gives me the right to seek legal aide. I do wish to be apart of this class action lawsuit. I have responded to Debra Kamza’s list of questions.

Chrissy cunninghamchrissy@ymail.com